Finally, I've Cracked It!

It's taken awhile, and we've covered many alpine lakes and canals in our quest to find a nesting pair of Australasian Crested Grebes/Kamana,  but finally I've cracked it (David wasn't with me when I found the nest). It was an exciting find and with the added bonus of two newly hatched chicks!

Grebe chicks ride on their parents back once the family leaves the nest, these chicks are still very young and have only hatched in the last couple of days. There are still two unhatched eggs in the nest which the parents are still incubating.

Somewhere, some place on a South Island alpine lake-

I discovered the nest just as the parents were changing nest sitting duties, the hatched chicks tumbled into the water as the parents bumbled about the nest. They managed to scramble out and back under the new sitting parent. This was when I could see the two unhatched eggs. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready; it was still sitting on the front seat of the ute. I really wasn't expecting to find a nest! Click to enlarge the photos.

Two tiny chicks poke their heads out from under their mother's wing...

...waiting for Dad to return with dinner...

First out, first served...

I was surprised how far Dad travelled before returning with food, I watched three returns with food and each trip took around 10-15 minutes. Perhaps it was two fish for him and one for the family.

'We'd he go?'

Dad arrives with another fish, bottom right.

While I was stitting it out, quietly waiting for the Grebe's return, this cute little guy swam right up to my feet; a brand new (you can still see his egg tooth) NZ Scaup duckling. His parents were nowhere to be seen.

The Birds of Ohau Canal

OK, back to the backlog of blogs. I hope you can keep up with all this toing and froing, it’s a little difficult when I’ve been talking about the same place- before the snow and after, and  just a couple of weeks apart. Anyway this is the last blog post from the MacKenzie Basin…….that is until I process the remainder of the snow photos.

While David fished I was able to take my time exploring the canal, the hillock behind and the surrounding lakes looking for birds to photograph.

On the very first afternoon I couldn’t believe my luck, when I walked to the beginning of the canal where it leaves Lake Ruataniwha and there, right in front of the rocks and below me, was an adult Australasian Crested Grebe/Kamana. I’m not sure who got the biggest fright, it took off fast towards the centre of the lake but I managed to get a shot before it dived and disappeared. Those that have been following the blog will know that I’ve been trying for quite some time to get close up photos of the incredibly shy grebe. Still not perfect but getting closer….

Along the canal, around the salmon farm and in the small lake behind the farm which is called the Wairepo Arm, there were the usual mix of hybrid mallards and grey ducks and a handful of Australian Coots (I love that name- I’m not sure if it’s the coot part or the fact that it has Australian in front of it).

Australian coots are slate-grey with a white bill and frontal shield, and red eyes. They also have large grey feet with lobed toes which help with swimming and diving as they spend nearly all their time in the water. Coots are a member of the same rail family that our native Pukeko & Takahe belong to, they arrived in NZ from Australia around 1958.

This is a male New Zealand Scaup (aka ‘Angry Duck’). NZ Scaup/Papango are also known as Black Teal- so many names for a little duck! Scaup are small diving ducks, they are sociable birds and can be found in large flocks bobbing about on many lakes.

Males are dark black-brown with an iridescent blue-green head and yellow eyes. The females are a duller chocolate brown with white feathers at the base of the bill and brown eyes.

I was pleased to locate half a dozen grebes scattered about in various places while I was exploring the canal,and ponds. They all kept their distance but at least I knew I had a chance of a close up shot if I managed to creep up on one. Every day I’d watch one grebe swim very fast down the canal past our van but out in the centre of the flow- I’d watch him out our window- but every time I stepped outside he shot off over to the far bank where he’d spend most of the afternoon poking about in the amongst the grass overhanging the water. Then he’d swim back past in the late afternoon, hugging the far bank and the edge of the salmon farm, heading back to the lake. I managed to get a slightly closer shot but still not a great one.

Surprisingly enough, aside from the waterfowl, there were quite a number of smaller birds feeding in the grasses along the canal banks and up on the hillock behind us; goldfinches, chaffinches, green finches, sparrows, dunnocks, NZ pipits, yellowhammers, blackbirds, thrush and silvereyes. A wild apple tree growing on top of the small hill provided plenty of food for the silvereyes and blackbirds which was just as well when the heavy frosts coated the ground for most of the day.

The Silvereye/Tauhou were a little cautious and tended to stick to the half eaten apples on the inside or on the far side of the tree. They also spend more time chasing each other than feeding as they are quite territorial. I always wonder why, when there’s plenty of food, they don’t just tolerate each other and get on with eating instead of wasting energy and time. In the end I decided that I had waited long enough in the cool wind to get a good shot so  I took matters in hand and took a bite from an apple myself (in situ), so I could get some shots on the sunny side   They were tasty enough but with a hard skin. All in the name of a good shot of course! And no that’s not what you think on the apple, it’s frost.

This Dunnock (aka Hedge Sparrow) all fluffed up against the cold, was resting near the van and warming up in the weak morning sun.

A New Zealand Pipit/Pihoihoi foraged for seed and insects along the canal bank every day including  the morning after our first snow fall. Pipits resemble skylarks but they have longer legs and walk rather than hop like the lark. Being a member of the wagtail family, pipits flick their tail as they walk, they are also less likely to fly when approached.

Late one afternoon I was looking out the window when I caught sight of a Grebe further down the canal and on our side. I quickly grabbed my camera and ran along the track out of sight of the canal edge until I thought I was about opposite where I’d seen him. I crept up to the edge and there he(or she) was! But it was only a juvenile.

I shouldn’t say ‘only’ because it was still thrilling to see him but I was after an adult. I already have a juvenile photo that I took last year when we visited the lake front in Queenstown.

Grebes have very strange legs, they look like they’re hinged onto their butts. Grebes spend all of their time in the water, only coming out to nest on floating rafts of vegetation that they build. Their strong legs are set way back on their bodies to help with diving.

Juveniles are a lot more confiding than the adults and more inquisitive. This fellow initially got a fright to see me pop up but once he sussed out I was no threat he just went about his business. You can see the beginnings of his adult crest forming on his head here.

After this initial encounter I didn’t see him again, I think he was encroaching on a prime piece of real estate (salmon farm=food) and the adult may have chased him away.

The Grey Warbler/Riroriro is a tiny endemic songbird that usually stays up among the canopy foliage so it’s often heard but not seen. Unless there is no canopy. Scrubby briar bushes and the native spiny matagouri  both grow along the side of the ponds behind the salmon farm and this is where I found numerous warblers working the bushes from one end of the pond to the other, looking for insects.

The warbler with it’s distinctive red eye is the only New Zealand bird that hovers while searching for food, making them identifiable by behaviour from a long distance.

And finally I nailed it! A close up of the elusive adult Australasian Grebe. I spotted him (or her, male & female look the same) in close to the canal bank and working his way down towards the salmon farm way across the otherside. I grabbed my gear and headed quick as I could to the road and over the bridge keeping a careful eye on him feeding.

Every time he dove down to feed I’d break into a run, then pull up fast when he bobbed back up, creeping along low behind the bridge rail and then the bushes on the edge as I got closer. A couple of fishermen were casting off the bank nearby and quietly cursing the grebe for scaring away their fish. 

I managed to get a few close shots before the grebe decided I was too close and took off through the water, heading into the salmon farm. He obviously feeds under the nets too.

A few days later I found him floating about in amongst the salmon farm, it wasn’t long before he decided I was stalking him again and he was gone. I had to post this photo though, not because of the grebe but because of the drums that are being used as floats at the farm. These aren’t just any old drums, although old and faded they are. These are very special Devan Plastic drums, made in Tauranga at our old business. It’s amazing the weird and wonderful places we keep finding Devan products on our travels.

Exploring the High Country Lakes

Along with Lake Pearson, there are a number of other small lakes not too far away from our camp. We were on another mission; to find yet another fairly rare bird which makes it’s home on the high country lakes of the South Island.

The Australasian Crested Grebe/Kamana is a beautiful diving bird which is rarely seen on land except when they clamber onto their floating nests near the shore. Their legs are located right at the back of their body, this allows them to dive but makes it near impossible to walk. The grebe has a slender neck, a long sharp black bill and very distinctive head gear- a black double crest with bright chestnut & black cheek frills. These it uses in an involved and rather bizarre greeting & mating display. The grebe are also unusual in that they carry their young around on their backs.

Lake Grasmere was just up the road; access was through a farm gate, along a grass track across a paddock to a small DOC reserve on the edge of the lake. 

We saw our first Grebe, a juvenile on the waterfront in Queenstown last year, we now wanted to find an adult bird, to see their unusual plumage and hopefully a little of their courtship display.

Queenstown Juvenile Australasian Crested Grebe

The lake was a mill pond, the mountains behind reflected in the still water.

Any birds we could see were down the far end of the lake milling about. Looking through the binocs and spotting scope they turned out to be Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks and NZ Scaup- probably taking refuge from the duck shooting season on a protected lake.

Grebe tend to hang out by themselves and after a long sweep around the edges and over the lake we finally spotted two grebes swimming and feeding off to the side. There was no way I could pick them up with my camera so we decided to return the next day now that we knew grebes were in residence.

David searching for grebes with the spotting scope

The reserve’s tied-down (it must get windy around here) long-drop with the skull emblem on the door made a great subject with the Craigieburn Range behind.

We went back to the lake the next day but unfortunately the grebes once again stayed out of range. I took a shot just in case this was last we were to see of them- this is zoomed in and cropped to within an inch of its life but at least you can see, it's a grebe.

I was also unable to find any grebes at our end of Lake Pearson but there were smalls flocks of Australian Coot with their oversized feet, and NZ Scaup including this male (bright yellow eye) who I thought was nesting rather late in the season. Most scaup are usually quick to depart if you get near them but this one stuck it out while it’s mate did mad circles just off the edge and the rest of their friends swam away. So it was a surprise to see the next day that there were no eggs in the nest at all (hardly surprising when I thought about it) so I’m not too sure what it was up to- just lazier than the others and couldn’t be bothered moving when I approached.

We stopped in at the tiny Cass settlement not too far from our camp, Cass is little more than a handful of houses and a railway shed. But this is not just any shed, it’s a very important & iconic railway shed in New Zealand’s history (thanks Francis). There is an iconic painting by a famous New Zealand artist, Rita Angus, of this colourful little shed.

Before the line ran through Arthurs Pass to the West Coast, Cass was the railhead. Sadly, despite the paint job, the shed has seen better days; half a dozen swallows vacated the interior as I approached & it looks like dry rot has set in on one side. Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong position, so I couldn’t shoot it from the same POV (point of view) as Rita painted it.

These two quietly watched me as I walked about shooting the shed, I went across to talk to them and give them a pat. The younger horse at the back took exception to my visit and tried to bite me while I was talking to his friend; he got a short shift.

Not too far from Cass we took a side road in search of Lake Sarah, another small perfectly formed lake tucked below a large hill. Again there were a good number of water fowl on the lake and again, mostly over the far side. We settled down to have some lunch looking down over the lake and were rewarded when we spotted three grebes swimming by themselves, front centre of the lake. But once again they were too far out for my lens.

I decided to give my wide angle landscape lens a whirl which allowed me to capture the whole lake in the frame. The following two photos were also taken with the lens. I should use it more often but because we’re always on the move and I never know from one moment to the next what I’ll be shooting I find my zoom lens much more user friendly, if somewhat heavier!

We drove another few kilometres up the road, deciding to turn around once we could see that the scenery was not going to change much and that the road looked to go on forever.

The views were spectacular, big mountains, huge skies & a wide open spaces with the Waimakariri River off in the distance- this is further east from where we’d last seen it.

I took this photo of the sign on the door of a small shed beside the railway and near the lake; it’s was either a fishing hut or belonged to the Canterbury University who had ‘Keep Out’ signs along the road- perhaps they farm the land. Whoever owned the shed, they’d obviously had enough.

Mirror Lake & a Walk Wire

We had just about finished exploring every area between of the DOC Cascade Creek campground, where we were staying, & Milford Sound and with only a couple of days left before we were scheduled to leave the area it was time to explore our own campground & a number of areas of interest between Te Anau Downs & Cascade Creek. We had passed them often (more about that later) but hadn’t stopped to check them out.

Right beside us in the bush between the campground and Lake Gunn was the Lake Gunn Nature Walk, a 45 minute loop track through the beautiful beech forest to the lake edge & back. The carpark was near the entrance to the camp and whenever we passed it there were always 2-3 cars parked, a number of smaller tour buses also came daily.

Some of the Lord of the Ring scenes were filmed in this area and I can see why, the forest floor was thick with moss, thicker than I’d seen anywhere else and some of the huge beech trees have weird bulbous growths on their trunks. These were used for the Ents, the talking tree like beings in the film.

I had a bit of fun with a slow shutter speed while waiting for the rifleman to prepare for their photo shoot.

The bird life was prolific, although mainly out on the margins of the forest; I had a great time stalking and shooting the rifleman, tomtits & robin. And there was also another resident NZ falcon in the area which was terrorizing the local tui population on a regular basis.

Rifleman- Titipounamu

One of the first tour stops for the dozens of tour buses travelling the Milford Road each day are the Mirror Lakes. The “lakes” are located right on the edge of the road & are more a backwater of the Eglinton River, deep pools formed thousands of years ago by glacial movement. This was the one area that I hadn’t managed to get a blue sky day so I wasn’t holding out much hope in getting some good reflections. A boardwalk along the edge and a couple of platforms over the lakes gave good views over the water to the Earl Mountains behind.

But as beautiful as the lakes were between the duck weed & the NZ scaups- Papango  (small diving ducks) there really wasn’t much hope of getting a still & clear reflection, the scaups kept swimming past and diving deep disturbing the water. And to be honest I saw far superior reflections in the tarns at the top of Key Summit.

 

 

Still, once the buses moved on & before any more arrived, it was a very beautiful & peaceful spot. I spoke to this Maori guy who was travelling through the country teaching music to various schools, in particular writing music that sounded like the various birds of the forest. He had seen the robin that we were clearing leaf litter for on the boardwalk and went off to his car, coming back with an assortment of instruments, he selected a flute and walked out to a rock ledge overlooking the lake and started playing a few notes. Before long the robin flew in from down the track attracted by the tune; see the robin on the seat checking out the music. How cool!

Even though the reflections let us down we had great fun watching a number of large trout swimming about in the clear water & the scaup diving under the logs that were in the pond looking for food on the pond floor.

One more sign I had to shoot on the road home-

I had read about our last walk a couple of times on different forums but hadn’t found any reference to it any brochures. But as luck would have it, it was just a 5 minute drive from Cascade Creek. Part of a much longer tramp, this walk would only take about 30 minutes return. After all the swingbridges we’d seen I wanted to see the simpler version, a walkwire. Basically just 3 supported cables, two for the hands & one for the feet. And of course I had to try it out. It was firm enough but quite wobbly once you got to the middle. Better than getting your feet wet of course.

 

While David was taking my photo on the wire, a robin flew in to check out his binoculars and then helped himself to the grubs we exposed under the moss on the log. Very cute!